Below is an article we wrote for Travel-Writers-Exchange.com, a community of travel writers, bloggers, and journalists that exchanges tools, tips, and resources designed to help members expand their online reach and find new opportunities.

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Finding a research approach that allows you to deliver fresh, unique, and thoughtful content is one of the greatest hurdles for travel writers.

Whether you only have a few days in one location or are embarking on an extended RTW trip, conducting some preliminary research on your destination will enhance your travel experience and your travel writing.

While writing the content that would eventually become Approach Guides, we spent 75% of our time “on location” and 25% researching our upcoming destinations at our home base in Milan, Italy. To accommodate this extreme travel schedule, we developed a streamlined research process that allowed us to create unique content.

Step One: Plan Your Itinerary

To help us form a preliminary itinerary, we consult a few sources that highlight the key cultural sites (our niche) in a given destination:

• A traditional travel guidebook, such as Lonely Planet or Rough Guides
• An online travel guidebook, although there are many choices, wikitravel.org is a good place to start.
• Tour company itineraries. For our purposes, we look to tour companies that target our niche, such as Archaeological Tours;

Step Two: Focus Your Research

The remainder of this article can be viewed on Travel-Writers-Exchange.com.

A visit to Uzbekistan is a must if you want to see its beautiful Timurid architecture, the pinnacle of which was reached in the Silk Road city of Samarkand’s Registan Square.  Timirud architecture went on to exert significant influence on the Islamic architecture of India, most notably the Taj Mahal.  You can explore this historical architectural connection in our Approach Guide to “India Art & Architecture: Islam”.

The starting point for most visitors is its capital city, Tashkent. Here are some recommended places to stay and eat in this city.

Where to Stay

• Hotel Elite.  This clean and comfortable hotel is located near Bobur Park. The staff here is super friendly and is willing to accommodate you in any way possible. Telephone: +998 71 1208829

Where to Eat

Women Serving Lunch in a Tashkent Market

• Local Markets. Experience the real Tashkent by join local families for lunch in their local market. You will find Uzbek women serving traditional dishes and chatting with their customers. This is a great experience and one we highly recommend!
• Cafe Caravan. Lucky for us, this Westernized-Uzbek restaurant was located near to Hotel Elite and serves late, so we were able to get a bite to eat after our late-arrival flight into the city. The atmosphere was great as was the food. We highly recommend trying their Uzbek dishes, especially the plov (rice with lamb) and the manty (dumplings).
• Home Restaurants. These restaurants offer an excellent experience – the restaurant is seemingly located in someone’s home and serves traditional Uzbek food. They are open for lunch and dinner, which are served in a large courtyard that contains a few plastic tables. There are no signs or indications to mark these restaurants, but rather they rely on local children to pull you in. To find the area in which several of these restaurants are located, go to the Tinchlik metro station and from there, walk to the closest traffic signal and turn right.
• Local Markets. Alternatively, you can join Tashkent families for lunch in the local market. This is a great experience and one we highly recommend!